Sian Reeves describes herself as the Sarah Jessica Parker of hot-tongs-at-dawn drama Cutting It. As the warring world of Manchester hairdressers prepares to unveil its third series Claire Hill caught up with the woman behind fashion faux pas Sydney to talk hotpants, rugby songs - and Ricky Gervais....

Oh. Hi. I completely forgot you were calling. I'm just doing my daughter's hair. No it's fine, we can still talk, I'll just do both at once."

It's the Easter holidays and at 10am Sian is busy getting her eight-year-old daughter Bessie ready for a friends' visit.

"We were meant to be going straight up North to see my parents but the plans got changed."

All this and all I said was, "Hi, is that Sian? This is Claire Hill from The Western Mail" so it's fair to say that the actress is of the chatty and open type.

While her Cutting It character is loud, self-centred, with a touch of vulnerability, in real life Sian, 37, is down to earth and friendly. As I mention the paper she launches into a bit of Welsh, before I tell her I'm from the north-east of England - and we start a conversation of how nice it is there.

But our talk soon turns to getting the inside line on what is set to happen in the third series of the highly popular show, revelling as it does in the cut-throat world of hairdressing. Sweeney Todd may have thought he had the monopoly on a bloody, messy "something for the weekend" but he can think again. With long lost daughters, mother and daughter pregnant by the same man, arson and the art of swapping of lovers and affairs, Manchester now has it covered.

The last series' climax saw Allie Henshall (Sarah Parish), pregnant with her ex-husband Gavin Ferraday's baby, stop their affair and tell him to continue his relationship with her daughter Ruby (Lucy Gaskell) who is also pregnant with his baby.

Gavin (Jason Merrells) doesn't know about Allie's baby who is going to pass it off as her lover Finn's, though he has had the snip.

Confused? Well, according to Sian, who plays Sydney, one of the Henshall sisters, it's only going to get worse - though she doesn't get to have an affair with Gavin.

Given that I and most of the female population would quite happily join Mia, Allie, Ruby and Darcey and have a fling with Gavin, does Sian want to do the same?

"Yes, absolutely, I have been trying to persuade writer Debbie that we should have a fling for ages.

"When she came to me this series and said there was going to be a bit of a twist, I said 'No, not Gavin?' but I was to have a kiss with Shane (who is gay).

"I flirt with Gavin all the time, I am a bit all over him."

When I suggest that the best storyline would be for her to drug Gavin I can almost see the cogs ticking through the phone line. "Oh, I like your thinking."

Not trying to give too much away about the new series - you'll have to watch - Sian does let a bit slip.

"We do a bit of singing and a bit of dancing. I have a dance class that I run this time around.

"And there is a new character called Troy, a young guy of 23, and of course I go after him. It is outrageous and he has fitted in well."

The cast are also going to be joined by a whole host of special appearances including Sue Johnston and Shameless' David Threlfall, who instigates a siege.

It is unsurprising that with all these very compulsive, and surprisingly believable, bed-hopping and plot twists, Sian won't allow her daughter to watch the programme.

"I let her see bits and pieces but it is quite difficult because all her friends watch it.

"I think it is too late and too raunchy, so she gets very fed up with me when everyone talks about it in the playground. She says it's not fair but if I did let her watch it people would have something to say."

But while eight-year-old Bessie might not be able to comment on the storylines in the playground she does have quite a bit to say about her mother's dress sense.

"A couple of years ago she thought they [the outfits] were good.

"She now realises they are slightly rough and says, 'You should not have worn that'. There is a slight note of criticism coming in."

And it is getting ready to play the super-thin, exercise-obsessed Sydney that can cause Sian the most nightmares.

"I try to wear clothes that are one size too small so it looks like everything is tight.

"I do go to the gym and exercise but it can be a bit much when my legs and my stomach are on show.

"I did try to do Pilates and that seemed to keep it all at bay but you get so tired, as with any long-term job with different hours, nothing is open and it's all up to self motivation and then there is Christmas.

"I am actually just getting a grip with things and it is, what, April."

And with outfits which involve imitating Missy Elliot, hotpants and Christina Aguilera, it is Sian who has the most involved changes.

"It's a real effort to get changed, all those belts. To go to the toilet you have to take everything off."

But as the person who has creative input into her character Sian only has herself to blame.

"I am called the SJP (Sarah Jessica Parker) of the team. She had a very big input into her show and I had that on my Cutting It character.

"It's great, such a different character to play. Perhaps I will never get to play a character that is so flawed and extreme as this - I am really lucky."

Walking down the street, looking less flamboyant than her character, Sian still gets recognised.

"All the time, but people think that I am Allie or Ruby. Luckily I do not look like her, which is a bonus for castings."

This year it seems that the actress, who does a good turn in singing and dancing, has been very busy.

Born in West Bromwich, before moving to Staffordshire, her mother is from Llanelli, and many of her relatives still live there.

"We used to go down to Llanelli and Carmarthen every Easter and summer when my sister Dawn and I were kids, and I can still sing loads of Welsh rugby songs."

When she was younger she wanted to be a dancer and had her big break in Les Miserables in the West End.

"I wanted to be a dancer, but it just did not go that way, I wanted to be Darcey Bussell.

"There is a celeb Come Dancing thing that I am going to do.

"But someone said I was quite good at acting and then I got Les Mis, but I was not a trained singer at all. The acting is great because we have a longer career, you can keep going until you drop dead."

She has kept her hand in though, choreographing a FHM commercial with Louise Redknapp which her boyfriend produced.

And now after five months of filming Cutting It in Manchester she is off to Huddersfield to play Maureen Lipman's daughter in Where the Heart Is.

"I had only been back home a week and they offered me this. They were just looking for a Maureen Lipman lookalike, I just thought it would be lovely of them to offer me it.

"I do not really have to do too much in it. I am the shy, cowering daughter who has not really got much to say.

"It's really good for me to play a character that is in the shadow of her mother, and it shows that I can do something different."

And while she is filming that she has a pile of films and shows lining up for us to see.

"I have got a couple of short films, No Deposit is about a woman who breaks into a sperm bank and also Love Bites. I play a woman who a guy dates at a speed dating event, playing all six characters.

"I have also been working on Making Waves. I'm an authority figure and have a high position.

"Welsh actress Joanna Page is in it, she is lovely so that was good. I am in the last episode of that and hope it will come back for another series."

Though she might be busy, busy now it has not always been like that.

"It's taken me a hell of a time, it was 1985 when I was in Les Mis.

"I was talking about this with my boyfriend - it has taken me 13 years to get here. It's a great journey on the way, it makes me more respectful of the cars coming to collect me and the money.

"I am glad that it has not come too soon now I can appreciate it."

Mixing her drama with comedy it is another comedy role that she hankers for, and cites the likes of Sue Johnston and Caroline Quentin as excellent actresses.

But if she gets her way there will be a chance for her to show more of her comic talents.

The day after this interview she will be auditioning for the role of Ricky Gervais's girlfriend in his new sitcom.

"All I will say is that it's very, very funny. It would be great if I got it.

"That is all Sydney, they are expecting someone who looks and acts like her to turn up. So when they see how classy I really am, I am going to have to make them think that I am really like Sydney."

As she laughs and tells her daughter to put some clothes on it is time for the early morning juggling to end.